Apparently the intrepid souls at Customs and Border Patrol CBP, think that they've the right to

1. confiscate my laptop
2. copy it's contents, if they don't just keep it.
3. take my phone and or it's contents

without cause. Or rather without warrent. Saw this on MacObserver. It's being debated right now, or rather was being debated, yesterday. The 9th Circuit Court already said our rights don't amount to much when we come back from over seas. the EFF, and others are working to fight such lameness.

I totally get that some exec or developer or whomever could load their laptop up with secrets and scoot on over to China, and sell 'em. I get that. And if they make it all the way to China without one of our many snoopy agencies catching them, well shit, good on ya brutha. I mean really. the Telcos gave us all up to the NSA already, so phone calls are being listened to, records surrendered. Echelon is still running as far as I know so they're definately keeping an eye on us. Plus, by the time that bad guy is returning, he'd damn well better have erased evidence of his bad guy-ness. And I doubt we're buying illegal secrets FROM China, it's no secret how to mistreat your citizens, pollute your air, built low quality iPod knock offs, etc.

I know we live in strange times, and security nuts in our government agencies are still power grabbing 7 years after 9/11, but really! Confiscating our laptops and phones? copying the data to be rifled through later? Oh and if I'm innocent, what then? whatever secrets I did have, legal or otherwise are now yours. I'm not the paranoid type in many cases, but when it comes to my data. You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands. I might have to install a cleaner on my machines now.... F you CBP how about you work on the illegal aliens strutting across the border problem, or work on keeping the Canadians out of Palm Springs. Work on that!

I watched the WWDC keynote with only mild interest. 3G iPhone, done, we all knew it. To not announce it would be suicide.

What I wasn't prepared for, was yet another raping of iPod touch owners by Apple. I paid what? 400 bucks I think for my 16gb iNewton. Then I paid, what? 15 bones for the 1.1.4 firmware update. Now I'll have to pay another 9.99 for firmware 2.0?

Why? If I remember right, the excuse was something lame like like SOX accounting or some bullshit. SOX is a whack excuse, and a whacker still law. All it's accomplish is making "SOX compliance consultants" and Lawyers rich. Great job government.

I'm seriously weighing whether or not the 2.0 iPhone will be a crackberry replacement for me, and a large part of that is I'm tired of apple screwing me on firmware updates. I didn't need a phone, but the iNewton functionality is great. Apparently it's also taxable, since Apple has twice now levied a tax against me for owning an iNewton.

Denver has limited ATT 3G coverage so I'm not 100% sold. When it comes out, i'll go look, but the Crackberry is such a great device. I've no complaints other than build quality about it. The iPhone has a lot to measure up against, but we'll see. I'll need to practice more on my iNewton, for the keyboard.

Apple sure is clever. I feel completely taken as an iNewton owner. Add to that, no new enhancements to the device itself, Shoot, hook it up with GPS! Give it some location awareness, at least!!

Nicole and I were in CA this past weekend. We were in Big Sur for a wedding, and on the way to the airport we swung by Carmel to do the famous 17 mile drive. One of the stops was a famous Cypress, the "Lone Cypress". It was quite beautiful. It was copyrighted.

WHAT THE FUCK!?

The text didn't come out in the pic, but that plaque essentially says that the lone Cypress is copywrighted by the Pebble Beach Company, and any use of the image of it is prohibited. Personal use was ok, but that was it.

To which I say, that the hell!? Can i copyright the Sun as my logo? Can I demand a usage fee from everyone on earth when they wake up and make use of the suns light? Did the Pebble Beach Company plant the lone Cypress?  Can I use the Rockies as my logo? Not the Coors Rockies, but the real ones? Can I then charge skiers for every photo they take? Can I charge the resorts that take action shots on the slopes?

Our copyright office must be a bunch of complete idiots. Copyright "A" Cypress tree, sure. But a real life Cypress tree? that exists and is a work of natures wonder? That's just crap!

So I ain't dying as far as I know.

Here's what I do know. I've been a bit fatiqued for the last two weeks, since shortly after getting back from Vegas/San Jose. Nothing serious, just seemed like a cold really. Kinda tied sometimes the chills. Then a few days later Nicole noticed that I was kinda yellowy. Not in the cowardly cowboy kind of way, or the cool new mutant power sort of way. On top of that, my eyes were also yellowing, and (not to go into TMI) my pee was pretty dark. Oh and Also a 'node' or lymph or something was kinda puffed up on my neck.

So we tromped down to Highlands Ranch to our Dr. She looked at me, poked and tapped and prodded, and rushed us off to the lab for some blood draws, and to the hospital for an ultrasound. That was kinda neat.

We heard back late the next day, that the blood work didn't show anything, and the ultrasound looked normal. My Spleen was a bit enlarged, but liver looked normal, despite producing way more enzymes than it should be. She decided I should go get a CT Scan, since they couldn't really see my spleen well and wanted a better look.

CT scans are less fun, though you don't have to get into a drafty gown so that's nice. Barium, is not tasty, nor is the IV they give you for contrast is weird and warm. and IVs suck.

So after the CT we stuck around so they could call the Dr with the results right away and she could talk to me. Turns out the CT didn't show much more than the Ultrasound, en larged spleen. The pipes and tubes connecting it to the liver and stuff all looked normal.

The possible upside according to the Doc, is that it may be viral (Mono, Viral Hep, one I can't remember) which are all treatable, yippy!

So that's what my week has been like, LOL

Been a busy period lately. Franky I'll be glad for some down time. We were in Italy as you may recall for 16 days. That was exhausting. I got home, picked up a new project, picked up a potential project that required me to be in Vegas for Software 2008 this past week, and then in San Jose for a day (not a day and a night, a day trip). The crazy part was I flew to Vegas from Denver for the conference, then on Thursday (I didn't even sleep wed night, since I had project work to do) at 4:30 I headed to the airport to go to San Jose for the day for Conference business, then around 4pm I flew back to vegas, for a 7pm flight to Denver. Of course it wasn't the same airlines or 'connecting' flights so I had to go through security each time. Oh and the crazy snow storm we had in Denver, delayed my 7pm flight until around 9:30ish. Frontier FTW!

oh yeah, new TV. So ours died and Circuit city lied about how much a DLP bulb would run us, so we ended up with a new 52" plasma TV from Samsung and a Panasonic home theater. Being tricked into a new TV sucks, but I will say, it also freaking rocks! now of course I wish we had an HD TiVo, bt oh well. the PS3 with it it's Blue Ray drive will suffice, we're even thinking of trying out netflix.

The new employment thing is completely speculative really. Tom and I got an email from someone we've talked to numerous times since our first 360|Flex. This past thursday we got an email that was pretty interesting, it could potentiall be a new job, doing what we love or maybe they just want a banner exchange, who knows. Exciting though, can't wait to see how that goes.

Oh yeah, saw Iron Man last night. Great movie actually. A marvel character not completely fucked up my the director, good job dude! if you go see it, make sure to sit through the end credits. neat little tidbit at the end.

ok one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. We finished watching CSI:Miami (N's thing, not mine) and TiVo had a cool little "What the Frak" ad. Of course I clicked on it. The reward, a really sweet 8 minute run down of the entire season of Battlestar Galactica. Absolutely hilarious!

"Frak Cylon style" FTW!!!

So CBS in their infinite lack of vision, once again killed Jericho. I'm guessing no amount of nuts will save the show.

As an aside I miss the days when a show had a full season, some times two to come into it's own.

If you're interested in the story, here's the wikipedia reference.

Now if it's not #1 after two shows, they start talking of cancellation. While ER jumped the shark 6 years ago, if not longer.

Oh yeah and as Jericho ends, CBS trots out, Secret Talents of the Stars. I'm guessing the same mind numbed Big Brother, Hell's Kitchen, reality clap trap watching public will flock to it. I'm sure next Season will see the smash hit, "Gut getting kicked in the crotch", thirty minutes of nothing but a guy getting in the crotch, that's what seems to entertain Americans.

Jericho certainly had it's rough edges and even some times a plot twist or two to rival Lost (thankfully no polar bears), but the story was deeply engaging.

Think about it. If some one told you a story about a large (haliburton comes to mind) government contractor perpetrating the nuking of 22 cities, then propping up a fake government, and rewriting the constitution (President Bush wishes he was in that story I'm sure) to strip the public of any rights that were inconvenient to the government or it's corporate controller.

Hard to imagine? Not really. Scary? Hell ya.

The story ends (I hope it finds a home on FX or something, it'd be a better show probably) with what is the beginning of the second American Revolution. What a freaking deep story, and interesting. I don't give a shit if George Takai can sing country music! I don't give a flying fig who's getting kicked out of the house, or off the island (Sorry mom and Portia, I know you guys love that stuff). I've got  a brain and I want to have it be engaged by an interesting story. A story that after 44 minutes, sends me to bed thinking of what happens next, what would it be like in that world, that's not so far from ours.

CBS, I've never been a fan of your shitty network and the one thing that interested me, you've killed (again). enjoy celebrity boxing, singing, dancing, maybe next we can do celebrity soccer, think Britney can play soccer?

So I'm at this event in San Francisco. The Adobe industry Leader Summit.

i've seen some weird stuff in my life. Not weird like, two headed turtles, but weird as in, "Don't see that every day"

Tonight might take the cake, at least for now.

Tom and I were waiting for the elevator (his bag was in my room, as he's not staying at the hotel), and two blondes approach.

"Are you two in town for a convention?"

Warning, Danger Wil Robinson Danger!

"Yeah."
"Is it pretty big?" Why girl? you lining up clients for the week?

"No just 20 or so of us."

"Ah. Having fun?"

"Uh, yeah so far so good."

"where are you from?"

Somehow we mentioned we were orginally from SoCal.

"Oh I'm from North Hollywood, well I have a place down there and up here in the city."

Oh yeah not a warning sign at all girl, not one bit. Might as well had a change belt around your waste at this point.

Elevator door opens.

"Have a good night." Us

"uh, yeah you too." Them.

Being the nerds we are, rather than comment on the looks of these two young ladies, we spent the elevator ride arguing whether it's called "Coming on to" when it's a hooker. I'm thinking it's still "coming on" regardless of the fact that money is expected. The flirting is the same, just more dirty. Tom thought it was considered something else.

I should rephrase that. I'm commonly the one who's "the asshole" in my business, however it's more for being the one who doesn't dance around fragile egos, and incompetents . A weakness of mine, for sure.

Tom sent me this Forbes article and it really hit home. Some of it.

This quote really hit home, Tom even included it in his email to me.

From James Sorenson, the largest shareholder in Abbott Laboratories.

From there it sort of degenerated I have to admit. I have great respect for anyone who can "Make it" as it were, but I worry that "making" it leads more often than not to becoming an ass hat ego maniac.  Clearly some are better able to resist basking in their own shadow, but many, at least of those Forbe's spoke to, weren't

When asked about their favorite book, many said it was either a book they had written or whichever book they were writing. Really? You see yourself as that good of a writer? No one else has anything to say or write, worth hearing or reading? I've read plenty of business books and most are so full of shit it's sad. Most are simply vessels for ego stroking "I'm successful because I'm great and this is how I did it." shit like that, that is useless as far as actually teaching anything.

When asked who'd they like to sit down for a drink with, many said themselves. Really? You're so into yourself that there's no one you'd like to sit and talk with? Not the Dali Lhama? Not a great writer? Not another business person who's been successful? No many said they'd like to sit and talk to themselves, no one else is worthy or your time and or attention?

I have to say, knowing that, I'm in no way inclined to ever WANT to talk to some of these men. I don't believe you have to act like that to be successful, I don't believe that success makes you the center of any universe. Know now how these people feel, I don't feel that they have anything to tell me that will help me in my business. That's sad.

oh my god, this made me laugh out loud, and I barely skimmed it!

For the record, I'm too cheap to shop at REI, for hang out clothes, and I've never watched an episode of The Wire, and don't subscribe to NetFlix.

:)

Figured I'd do a post to wrap up my last few weeks since they've been a bit silent.

February 25-27 was 360|Flex Atlanta, the third event my company has organized. The first to turn a profit, albeit small. w00t!!

Tom (business partner) and I landed Friday, met with our hotel rep, ran some errands, etc. We spent the weekend, stuffing folders, copying files to USB drives, tracking packages, stuffing and alphabetizing badges, buying a PS3, blah blah blah.

Sunday was our free hands on "Flex 101" session all day. It was a huge hit. We planned for 50, and had 80 people show up. It was also early badge pickup, which always helps make Monday morning less  hectic. Word of advice, copying files to a 1gb USB drive, is SLOW, you can't do it on the fly. Lesson learned.

Sunday night we had our Speaker Sponsor dinner ( our way of thanking them), followed by welcome reception for attendees. If you're in the ATL hit Stats up. good food, sweet atmosphere, all around great place!

Monday was keynote one, where Tom and I say hello, thanks for coming, make a few announcements, corrections, etc, then hand off to Adobe to wow the audience. We had the pleasure of being the launch event for Flex 3 and AIR 1, which kicked ass!

Monday night's party was Adobe's and it was good. Tom and I under planned for food (that happens when you have your reg numbers swell over 100% in 30 days) but otherwise it was a good time.

Tuesday, no keynote. Tuesday is our Day of Rest i suppose. it's the only "normal" day at the conference. The party was hosted by two of the bigger Flex shops in the game, both local to Denver, neat! Was a great party, and when the beer budget ran out, both sponsors split the tab and "re-opened" the bar! Gotta love that.

The Wednesday keynote is my favorite. It's when Tom and I practice what we preach, transparency and conversation. We give a mid level review of expenses and income, showing what food, A/V, hotel, etc all cost, and what we brought in from attendee tickets, and sponsorships. Like I said above, Atlanta turned a profit. Not much, but at least it shows that our model of doing events isn't flawed. We also explained why we gave out 300 copies of the Cluetrain Manifesto. I'm really glad we did, I think it'll open a lot of eyes. We talked about one of our sponsors who couldn't make it for medical reasons, we talked about one of our sponsors who gave his extra sponsor attendee codes to students and those who couldn't afford to attend.

I think I like the Wednesday keynote the most because it's the one people talk about. It's the one people come up to us after and thank us for our openness and transparency. "No other conference gives that info out" get's said a lot on Wednesday. I like that, because I'm hopeful that it leads to change. The conference (tech mainly, but I'm sure it extends to freezer food, and cabbage patch kids too) industry is so corrupt and greedy that it needs change.

So that was up thru the 27th. Week ain't even over! Normally after an event Tom and I return home and enjoy some time not thinking about conferences. Not this time!

Thursday we cleaned up, packaged and sent off boxes of "stuff" to our homes, sent the stand for our big board back to it's home, had breakfast with the hotel reps (great ladies!).

At 5:30 we were on a plane bound for Milan, Italy. Sight of 360|Flex Europe, which was taking place just over a month away. The good thing about the flight to Milan, was that it was only 8 hours, and was through the night. We landed at 10:30 in the morning, slept most of the night, and weren't completely whacked out.

We had exactly 1 and 1/2 days in Milan. After training, then tubing to the hotel we met our hotel rep, Carla, who showed us the venue, talked about catering, etc., then it was nap time, LOL. We went out that night for dinner near the Duomo, which by the way is SWEET!

Saturday was just sightseeing, planning etc. Tom and I talked over plans for the conference, ways to get numbers up, etc. Then we went back to the Duomo for official sightseeing.

Sunday morning we Tubed, then Trained, back the Malpensa Airport and were on our 11 hour and some change, flight back to Atlanta. That flight sucked! Mainly because it was all daylight, we left at 10am(ish) and landed in ATL at 4pm(ish) do and then still had a 3 hour (for me, 6 for Tom) flight home. So all in all Sunday was SUPER LONG.

To wrap it all up, the persistent cough I had when I was in Atlanta, and Milan, turned into a full bore cold moments after walking in the front door to the house.... weak!

So that was my week, last week.